The Sphere Of Humiliation
If Thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. - Mark 9:22
<http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?version=31&search=Mark+9%3A22>
After every time of exaltation we are brought down with a sudden rush into
things as they are where it is neither beautiful nor poetic nor thrilling.
The height of the mountain top is measured by the drab drudgery of the
valley; but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God.
We see His glory on the mount, but we never live for His glory there. It is
in the sphere of humiliation that we find our true worth to God, that is
where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are
always at the heroic pitch because of the natural selfishness of our hearts,
but God wants us at the drab commonplace pitch, where we live in the valley
according to our personal relationship to Him. Peter thought it would be a
fine thing for them to remain on the mount, but Jesus Christ took the
disciples down from the mount into the valley, the place where the meaning
of the vision is explained.
"If Thou canst do any thing . . ." It takes the valley of humiliation to
root the scepticism out of us. Look back at your own experience, and you
will find that until you learned Who Jesus was, you were a cunning sceptic
about His power. When you were on the mount, you could believe anything, but
what about the time when you were up against facts in the valley? You may be
able to give a testimony to sanctification, but what about the thing that is
a humiliation to you just now? The last time you were on the mount with God,
you saw that all power in heaven and in earth belonged to Jesus - will you
be sceptical now in the valley of humiliation?
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Victoria E Gilkerson